Tuesday, Jan. 25

Didn't post a blog yesterday, because it was Hubbie's and my 30th wedding anniversary, so we did nothing that wasn't absolutely necessary except enjoy each other's company. It was a good day, with an exchange of lovely greeting cards, a beautiful bouquet of lilies, carnations, and mums from Hubbie, chocolate candy and wine, a delicious (if not particularly healthy) meal of grilled steak with grilled shrimp, baked potatoes, salad, and asparagus, an afternoon movie ("Mama Mia"...Hubbie is not a fan of movie musicals, but he likes this one), and an evening out at the local movie theater to see "The Little Fockers." They must have known we were coming to the theater, because we got a private showing of the movie...no one but us showed up. Fine with us...we relaxed in the only two high-backed seats in the house and laughed our heads off. Happy Anniversary to us!

I was up around 8:15 this morning, but skipped my exercises simply because I wasn't in the mood. I'll get back at it tomorrow morning, though.

Mother came over mid-morning and started a pot of split pea soup simmering. While she did that, I worked on Valentine greeting cards. After lunch, Mother joined me in that activity. We finished several this afternoon, before I needed to stop and review the materials for tutoring my Hispanic student tonight.

The soup was good with crackers and peanut butter. Mother went home afterward, and I headed to the college library to meet my student. We worked two hours tonight, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., during which she learned the names of several new nations (Australia/Australian were difficult for her), how to pronounce the months of the year (she trips on January and July), and how to say simple sentences, like "The girl has a cup in her hand."

My main thrust tonight was teaching her to pronounce "h" in words, and deal with "and" and "an" ("I have a pencil and an eraser.") I could tell she was puzzled about having "and" and "an" right together in the same sentence.

It's also difficult for her to say sentences with lots of "h" words..."He has his pen." These kinds of sentences are tongue twisters for her.

At home, I found the front door locked, but no matter how hard I pounded on it or rang the door bell, Hubbie didn't hear me. So I went around to the back door. In the den, the TV was off, and there was no sign of Hubbie. I found him upstairs watching a basketball game on the bedroom TV, because it seemed I had programmed two shows on the DVR, which meant he couldn't change to another channel.

So I ditched one of the recordings, so we could first watch the President's State of the Union address, and then our favorite college basketball team as they played to a much-needed win.